Wind turbine blades and thereby also the root region thereof are often made by assembling two blade halves essentially corresponding to the suction side and the pressure side, respectively, along the chord plane. However, the blades may also be moulded in their entirety by so-called hollow moulding.
The root region comprises layers of fibres forming an outer layer and an inner layer between which fastening members in the form of bushings are placed. A separately formed inserts may be placed between each pair of adjacent bushings, whereby the bushings are mutually separated by the inserts. The known inserts are made of glass fibres embedded in a suitable resin.
A potential problem in connection with wind turbine blades is load transfer from the fibre composite structure of the root region to the hub of the wind turbine. The connection and transfer of loads from the blade to the hub is inter alia provided by mounting the blade to the hub by screwing bolts into the bushings placed in the root or by means of nuts screwed onto stud bolts screwed into the bushings. In case the number of bolts and thereby the number of bushings has to be increased to handle a given load, remaining area of the fibre composite material between the bushings is reduced. This may result in the root connection being insufficiently supported to withstand the loads, whereby the connection between the blade root and the hub may fail since the bushings are insufficiently retained in the composite material and thus pulled out of the composite material of the root region. This is especially a problem when long and thereby heavy blades are to be used.
WO 2010/018225 provides a method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade comprising a steel wire or steel fibre-reinforced polymer matrix. However, the document does not address the problem of how the root region is to be designed to withstand extreme loads in the connection between the blade root and the hub.
EP 2 138 716 describes a blade insert provided in the lamination of a wind turbine blade. The insert is made up of two part, namemly a head and a body. The head is designed so as to be able to screw the insert onto another structure. The body has a cylindrical exterior and has a conical cavity. Thereby, the body provides a smooth transition to the blade laminate.
WO 03/057457 discloses a wind turbine blade comprising root end bushings with wedges provided in extension of the bushings.
GB 2 191 249 discloses a blade for a RAM air turbine machine. The blade is a composite structure integrally formed with a socket of metallic material.